Crisafulli Government Delivers Cyber Boost For Small Business

Four in five Australian small businesses experienced a cyber incident in the last year and Burdekin businesses are also falling victim according to Member for Burdekin, Dale Last MP.

With costs to deal with cyber incidents increasing to an average of $49,600, Mr Last said a recent state government announcement was both welcomed and timely.

“I’m aware of two local small businesses who have been targeted in the last few weeks, so these attacks aren’t something that is confined to the cities or to big multi-national companies,” Mr Last said. “Helping small business avoid these attacks is a priority for the government because we recognise the importance of small business, especially in areas like the Burdekin.”

“Like most things, prevention is definitely better than a cure when it comes to cyber incidents, especially when a business could face a bill of $50,000 as a result.  For some businesses, a bill like that means the business closes and people lose their jobs.”

“We have teamed up with CyberWardens to offer free training focussed on increasing resilience against attacks and putting in place effective preparations should an attack occur.  During the election campaign we committed to supporting small business and, given the risk cyber incidents pose, helping protect Queensland small businesses and ensuring the training is easily accessible are priorities.”

“By fully funding the training the government is also ensuring that business owners and their staff have access to reduce the chance of ‘weak points’ in a business’s operations.”

Mr Last said the CyberWardens training provided information on a range of topics but focussed heavily on empowering participants to prevent attacks before they happen.

“In addition to regular webinars and a wide range of resources, the CyberWardens program also equips people within the business to take a leadership role when it comes to ensuring staff are doing the right thing,” he said. “Given that a high proportion of cyber incidents can be prevented quite easily, having someone to guide staff and check systems regularly is invaluable.”

“Habits can be extremely hard to break but those habits can leave businesses vulnerable.  Reusing and sharing passwords, for example, not only makes it easier for criminals to gain access but it also means they can cause far more damage.”

“Email and banking fraud are among the highest cyber threats to small business, and we’ve seen local businesses become victims of those types of fraud.  The offenders will gain access to a business’s email system and use that to contact customers and ask them to pay invoices into the offender’s bank account.”

“These types of attacks put businesses in a very difficult position because, usually, the offenders close the account and effectively vanish as soon as they are caught.  That makes it hard for customers to get their money back and leaves the business out of pocket despite having completed the work.”

“Relatively simple steps can reduce the chance of these types of attacks several-fold.  More information on the free CyberWardens program is available at business.qld.gov.au and I’d encourage local businesses to take advantage of this opportunity to protect their hard work.”

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